


Strangers

by JenCforCarolina



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Mars, destiny guardian, destiny warlock, the Vex, the stranger's rifle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 17:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6160755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenCforCarolina/pseuds/JenCforCarolina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A side should always be taken…<br/>Selene’s rifle may be more trouble than it’s worth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> [Find it on Tumblr](http://jencforcarolina.tumblr.com/post/130613778803/strangers)

Her first thought when she saw the figure on the cliff was Auburn, her second thought disagreed. Auburn was hunting a Fallen mercenary on the Moon.

“Too dangerous, you aren’t coming with me.” She had said. “And I don’t say that often, so listen when I do, okay?”

Had Auburn been alone she would have picked a fight in a heartbeat, but a couple of her friends had been nearby, waiting. One was a Warlock, the other was an Exo and she didn’t feel the need to act like a child in front of one from her vanguard and one of her kin. The Warlock was gently testing the Light in the area, and would easily have been able to feel Selene’s discomfort. She had to work doubly hard to hide her jealousy.

So she left for Mars equipped with that weird pulse rifle her mentor had given her and a bounty for Minotaur mind cores.

Auburn nearly hadn’t let her go there either, but was finally convinced that the orbits were in a somewhat decent alignment and she would have enough light to chuck out a nova-bomb every five minutes. Surprisingly some of that assurance had come from Ikora, who was never one to take Selene’s side. Even so, Auburn was hesitant to allow her charge so far out alone.

The final verdict had come when Coach reported Eyahn was clearing out hostiles in the Dust Palace. Her mentor lost all hesitancy in a heartbeat. Selene wasn’t exactly sure why the presence of the tiny Hunter was that much consolation, she was small and swift and often seemed fragile. She survived firefights by not getting hit. Not exactly one you would want defending you if it came down to it, at least in Selene’s opinion. Good for range and support, but she wasn’t a Titan.

Still, decisions were decisions. And decisions were made. Selene was on Mars today. And Auburn was on the Moon.

Auburn was not on the cliff looking down over the small Cabal base and arching curve of the Black Garden’s Gate. It was someone else.

Selene had noticed their silhouette after she slayed yet another minotaur. As it’s body fell out of the way her glowing sights lined up with a cliff above the valley and the figure standing there.

They were a Hunter, so next she thought maybe Eyahn had come to check on her but something was off, not quite her. Too tall, the cape was too long, the fabric too stiff, they didn’t even carry a sniper rifle. No, they were someone different.

And at the moment Selene couldn’t be bothered to care. She was enjoying the sensation of being alone and wasn’t interested in social interaction. She remembered the last time she had greeted a Guardian she had seen on a cliff. She still wasn’t sure if she was glad she had ever met Auburn. Regardless, she was not in the mood for new acquaintances. Not now, not today.

She reloaded the pulse rifle and turned to face the next Vex patrol emerging from the Garden. The rifle’s barrel glowed with something akin to arc light.

“A grenade would be useful.” Coach quipped, a little on the exasperated side. There had already been three deaths today.

“No. I’m practicing.” Selene snapped back.

“Well no one can fault you for lack of determination.” Selene ignored him and opened fire on the incoming Minotaurs. She managed to kill one and take down the shields of another before the rest teleported close enough to pose a problem. In an effort to solve that problem, Selene leapt in the air and reached to the Void. It pooled in her palm and grew, crackling, begging to be released. She let it go, let it arc forward, and noted with distaste that it was too early. The consequent explosion was small, only enough to make one of the minotaurs stumble. The vortex left behind sapped at the shields of the others.

Selene grumbled and returned to the rifle, hammering shots into the machines’s abdomen. She had nearly killed all of them before their accompanying Hydra and Hobgoblin approached. Selene ignored them, the Minotaurs, in her mind, were posing the most direct threat.

It proved a fatal mistake when the Hobgoblin got a lucky shot and put a solar snap through her head.

When she rezed mere seconds later everything was dead. Hydra, Hobgoblin, and the remaining minotaur she had been in the process of killing. She stared at the carnage for a moment, trying to understand how it could have happened, when she heard a voice from behind her.

“Guardian.”

Selene turned.

She was an Exo, a cocky one probably because she wore no helm. Her cloak covered most of her body, front and back. Selene wouldn’t have even known what to make of her if she hadn’t had her hood up, the defining feature of a Hunter. When she spoke her lights were carefully controlled.

“Where did you get that weapon?”

Selene instantly didn’t like her attitude. She wanted to trust this Hunter but there was something inherently hostile in her tone. It hurt a little. Looking back that was probably the moment her life shifted. The day she chose to defend a human against a fellow Exo.

She drew up her shoulders, lifted her chin. She was slightly taller than the Hunter. “It was a gift.”

“From who?”

“My mentor.”

The Hunter lowered her head, practically bristling with hostility. “And who exactly are they?”

Selene kept her mouth shut, didn’t move, just stared blankly back at the other through her obsidian visor. She reached up to her collar and folded a loose flap of fabric up to cover her throat, cover her lights. Her emotions could no longer betray her.

The other Exo’s cheeks flashed angrily. She strode forward, cape rustling. Beneath it she wore no armor, no fieldweave, only her own casing. Selene noted that, it was strange.

“I’m going to ask you once more, who is your mentor.”

“I’m not going to tell you.”

The Hunter whirred in desperate annoyance. Casually, as if she had planned to all along, she pulled a sidearm from her hip and held it under Selene’s chin. “I don’t have time for these games. Answer my questions.”

Selene had never had anyone pull a gun on her before, no one she hadn’t already planned to kill. Plenty of Fallen she supposed. Some Cabal. Certainly no Exo or other humanoid. Honestly, she couldn’t fucking care less.

“I’ve been dying all day.” She deadpanned. “This doesn’t change my decision.”

The other shook her head, displeased. “Why are you making this difficult?”

“Because I’m afraid. I’m afraid that if I tell you, you’re going to hurt her.”

The exo’s weapon hand drooped a little. “I’m sorry, my time here is short, and I need to know why you have that gun.”

“I told you, she gave it to me, there isn’t much more to it than that.”

“Why did she give it to you?”

“Because I can’t aim. I’m a shit shot. She just wanted to take care of me. it’s her job. She was right too, it’s accuracy is enough to compensate for my lack thereof.” Selene cringed inwardly at every admittance, but it was all true. About time she stopped lying to herself about it.

The Hunter dropped her arm. Selene relaxed, finally, glad her lights were still covered and the other woman couldn’t see her relief.

“And did she tell you where she got it?”

“Said it was a gift to her too. It was given to her and she gave it to me.”

“She is human, red-brown hair, somewhat tall? She has the silver armor like thunderclouds and and purple dots on her helm?”

Selene hesitated. She was right in every respect. That was Auburn.

The Hunter holstered her weapon. “If the answer is yes I am content, it is what I expected.”

Selene still chose not to speak. The Hunter took it as a confirmation anyway. She looked the Warlock up and down. “Very well then.” She seemed to shift, like a sigh, and half-turned as if to go. “One more thing, what was her name?”

“Ask her yourself.” Selene challenged. The other woman made an amused little “hmph.”

“Will you tell me yours at least?”

“You first, stranger.” Again, something like a chuckle escaped the Hunter.

“Very well. We shall stay strangers then, Guardian.” She took a step to leave and vanished. At first Selene thought she had blinked but there was no noise, no reappearance elsewhere. She waited, staring at the place the other had vanished and sometimes glancing off into the distance, looking for the exit point of the teleport, but none ever came.

“Coach? What the fuck was that? Where did she go?”

“I’m not sure exactly, I’ve never seen anything like that. Actually, I take it back. I have.”

“What? Where? When?”

“You’re holding it in your hands.”

She looked down at the pulse rifle, the weapon the Hunter -was she a Hunter?- had been so concerned over.

The barrel of the rifle glowed innocently, as though it had no idea what Coach was talking about.


End file.
